STARTING RIOTS: MARTHA MAY & THE MONDAYS BRING SONIC ANARCHY TO GLASGOW IN LATEST SELL OUT

LIVE REVIEW | MARTHA MAY & THE MONDAYS | SWG3 POETRY CLUB, GLASGOW | 7th March 2026 by Courteney Pearson

Some gigs feel over rehearsed – Martha May & The Mondays clearly prefer the opposite.

From the first notes it’s obvious this isn’t going to be a neat, polite indie set. I loved it. The band deal in something far scrappier, producing a wiry, post-punk pulse. 

Front woman Martha is the spark plug. She refuses to stay put for long, prowling the stage before slipping straight into the crowd like it’s the most natural thing in the world.  One minute she’s gripping the mic stand like it owes her money, the next she’s weaving through the audience, singing inches from people’s faces. It’s chaotic but magnetic and the crowd loves it. She has the kind of stage presence that turns a room into part of the show.

Behind her, the band – Davie, Charlie, Anna & Kirsty – lock into that lean post-punk groove. Drummer, Anna, drives everything with a tight, restless energy. A sharp rhythm that keeps the songs tight and focused. Then there’s Kirsty‘s violin. Instead of softening the sound, it cuts through it. It’s eerie, almost confrontational.  It’s less orchestra pit and more art-punk weaponry, adding this wonderfully strange, haunted texture to the set.

Just when it feels like the band have shown all their tricks, the commanding sound of a trumpet suddenly joins the fray. A genuinely brilliant addition that lifts the intro of our next song into something bigger. It shouldn’t work in a gritty post-punk set, but here it absolutely does, punching through the noise with a sharp brass bite.

Their latest single ‘Sink Dogs‘ lands like a small detonation. Live, it feels rougher and heavier than the recording, the chorus hitting with that shout-back immediacy that gets half the room yelling along by the second run through. By the end the room feels properly rattled. It was sweaty, loud and I left slightly stunned by their presence. 

Martha May & The Mondays don’t just play gigs: they start small riots and invite everyone in the room to join.

You can catch Martha May & The Monday’s across the UK soon with their next big headline show at Edinburgh‘s Sneaky Pete’s on July 2nd. Tickets are on sale now.